I'm trying to keep my posts shorter, and focussed on the one of the major discussion points that stood out for Carlton and Richmond fans: the umpiring.
The umpiring was a disgrace, right from the get go. Just from the top of my head:

Saad's eye gouge, and no free...umpire right there...goal to them.
Newnes sliding into ball punches it away, then Balta doesn't slow down and crashes into Newnes and paid a free for tripping...goal to them
Fisher's legs very obviously taken out ...no free ...had open players ahead.
Newne's disallowed goal, baseless: see Dunstall, Voss, anyone who watched the video evidence...robbed Goal

I wasnt expecting us to win against the tied, but thought our boys might find something, and after a 6 goal head start, we did show something.

Your reference to the other discussion points has merit too.

Find me one person who thinks the umpires didn't favour Richmond on the night. I've spoken with half a dozen Tiges supporters today, and I know they agree. Add that to our injuries, the wet conditions, the clearances, the inside 50's, the small forwards ... I can see how we could have pinched that game IF not for the umpires...like last week with Walsh's dismissed head high hit in front of goals.

Two games we could have PINCHED, and two games umpire decisions made a difference to the outcome.
That's footy when Naiffen is umpiring, and add his mate No. 23.

I hate cheats.

Its a good sign, and I welcome every week's challenge, injuries or not. We are a really good team[/quote]


I do not dispute the (very) questionable umpiring but the two points I've highlighted are things we can control
(1) play wet weather footy on a wet weather night and maybe they don't get a 6 goal head start
(2) We are a damn fine team and injuries were not the reason we lost...it's why my blood pressure went through the roof...see point (1)

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If I want your opinion, I'll give it to you!

Glad you brought that up. LOB totally ignored Boyd. Backed himself from outside 50 with a wet footy. Did not do the team thing

You speak Bible Truth Sir Frank O'The Dardew

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If I want your opinion, I'll give it to you!

BTW was there another touched score review right at the end? Was it McKay and another negative decision?

Trigg once said, "It's not a sin cos you follow the Blues Tommi. We will have periods with frequency of oscillating emotions"

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If I want your opinion, I'll give it to you!

Yeah, because he was rushing to save time he simply didn't clear the man on the mark.
Correct call was touched.

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"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

He didn’t ignore him. He assessed the option and took on the responsibility to kick it deep himself. It was a reasonable call to make in the circumstances. Boyd was clear, but on a worse angle and not that much closer to goal.

If he’d passed it, LOB probably would have been called an idiot for overusing the ball on a wet night and/or a fanny for not taking the kick….

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It's never as good as it looks and it's never as bad as it seems.

I understand the frustration Frank. Valid points.

The positive aspect for me though is that we are not playing well yet still staying in games until the death against good opposition.

Forget top 4 this season, but I do think we have improved and should scrape into the finals. We’ll probably need to pinch an unexpected win along the way though; eg. an unlikely victory over the Dockers or Saints at the Depression Dome would be very juicy.

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It's never as good as it looks and it's never as bad as it seems.

I agree. If we can win 5 of our remaining 9 (A big ask with our draw), we'll definitely play finals and anything is possible from there.
Personally I believe we can beat anyone with our best team on the park. We just need to hold it together until players return and to not incur additional injuries.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Absolutely agree - but getting our best 22 (or something even approximating our best 22) - no reason why we can’t pull of a Bulldogs 2016 or Hawthorn 2008.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Pros:

Saad and Harry.
Docherty had a slashing 2nd half.
Fisher classy.
Young was good. Durdin encouraging performance.
Cottrell. Although I wish he'd stop handballing to the skipper whenever he's anywhere near.
Boyd looks like he'll be a beauty.

Cons:

Lost the physical battle and ball handling was poor
Early misses compared to the opposition efficiency. Game was lost then. Rest of the game was pretty even.
Conditions favoured the opposition.
Didn't have much luck with score reviews and Richmond's countless kicks off the ground that went straight to a teammate.
Jack Riewoldt staging for frees. Like to know how many free kick goals Richmond got.
Injuries again.
Liked how hard LOB ran, and some of his ball use. But his contesting was really frustrating.
Not enough from our small forwards.

100%. We've proven at near full strength, our best is as good as anyone.
I reckon we will win 1 of next 2. With Weiters Cerra and probably Pitto back we can knock off Geelong. Can't afford to slip up against GWS, crows or Eagles and with most players back should beat filth in round 23. We'll be ultra competitive against Dees and Lions too assuming we're healthy.

And i agree with all of that . If we can get 'em fit and healthy we can give anyone a scare . Good on ya boys showing a bit of defiance and fight . Thats old style Carlton right on show in the last few post's . Fab .

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All my dangerous friends

Well done to SOJ for the way he flies the flag for his teammates. Probably overrates his evasive abilities though.

AFL highlights package doesn’t have the last Carlton goal of the game that was overturned on automatic goal review. they’ve have ty e one Doc touched on the line though. Flogs.


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If we can hang in there over the next month (ie. until Weitering & Pittonet come back) and win 2 of the 4 I’ll be quite bullish about making the finals. Almost as important will be to get through the period without anymore significant injuries.

Unfortunately, history tends to show that it’s very very hard to play catch up with your injuries - but I feel like if we can just have a respite of a few weeks from new injuries we might come home with a wet sail.

There’s a couple of big “ifs” in this post. I realise that…

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It's never as good as it looks and it's never as bad as it seems.

The ball is in our court.
The boys believe in themselves but they now need to show they want it enough.
Fremantle, StKilda, etc. are beatable, so we play finals, if we want too.

Umpires are untouchables. The Afl stand by them no matter what and they know it. Tonight Afl stated that touched goal was the correct decision. The umpires need be held more accountable for their performance with such big money involved in outcomes these days. The umpires seem to be thinking of themselves like conductors of an orchestra directing the result of a game rather than officiating it to the given rules equally to both teams. Is a disgrace and a blight on the game at the moment in my opinion.
Also what's going on in our fitness department???? Never seen the likes of it before

a friend of mine was a friend of SOS’s GF in 1995 and apparently the whole season long the word was that the team with the least injuries come finals and GF day will win the flag. even in a period when a few teams stood out as miles above the pack. this year is very even as many people are observing. i wonder if that’s the man on the mark rule and six six six rules opening up the contest a little to even things out? possibly just the AFL draft system (socialism god dam it!!) doing its job.


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The first three goals were gifted to them in one way or another bondi.
I knew exactly where the night was going so i turned off the box.
They are a bunch of pricks and are enabled by the monopoly just like the druggies.
Lynch's actions where inexcusable and indefensible. Very very very disappointed that no one stood up cracked Lynch, we really need to grow a pair.
I'm not a violent man but the same thing happened to us in a second semi when one of my teammates was gouged and that was a line that just doesn't get crossed. Whatever the consequences someone needed to remonstrate with the aggressors and it was set the tone for the rest of the game, which we won.
Like i said before we needed action and was deeply disappointed to see we are still the same rollovers as before and until we get that killer attitude we won't get to where we need to be.